Replies-
Princess Pinky: Thanks! Just to keep you on this story, lol, Willow is related to the Halliwell family, but in what way I'm not saying; you'll have to keep reading to find out ;)! I just thought I'd let you know, you're a very loyal and kinda reviewer : )!
Powerof4: Thanks! As I said to Princess Pinky Willow is related to the family! And Paige is gonna be in L.A. with Angel etc. so she will be shining there (not related though)! I have no idea what AIM is but the thought of talking to you was nice : )
Money makes me smile: Thanks! Glad you liked it! Cool? That's good : )
Siamese: Thanks! Glad you liked it! Glad you liked the names! I'm glad at least one person is enjoying this fic : )
The Pimp: That was not constructive criticism, that was just plain insults! If you don't like my story then don't read it! I'd rather have a few reviews that like my writing than loads of reviews who don't! As far as I'm concerned my characters are completely three dimensional! You may think what you're saying is gonna help me, but it's not, it's gonna put me down! And if you think you have the right to criticize fics the way you have done mine then right your own fic and lets see how good you are! And how can it be so rushed? It was long! Why would I rush something into a chapter that was long? Daft? You use the word 'daft' and then go and insult my use of language and words etc! Willow becoming a charmed one was explained in the first chapter: because she's the only witch strong enough to become one! And all the good reviewers I get for my fic series and the 4 good ones I got for this is all that matters, not your review! Now I think I've wasted enough space defending myself against you so please don't review again unless you have something nice to say! I know you meant this as constructive criticism, but that's not how I saw or took it at all!
The title of this chapter is a play on the saying 'there are two sides to every story'.
There Are Two Sides To Every Craft:
Phoebe Halliwell shuffled along her carpet as she made her way to the dressing table at the far side of her room and scooped her dark hair up into a ponytail. Cole had shimmered in the early hours to avoid bounty hunters, leaving her to wake up alone with only a small note to explain why. She changed into jeans, a red tank top with 'this bitch bites' written in gold glitter on the front, and then she topped the outfit off with 3'inch red heels and a black, waist length, jacket.
"Hey Pheebs, goin' out?" Piper asked, walking passed the open doorway of her sister's room,
"yeah, gonna go job hunting; without Prue you're the only one bringing home money," the clairvoyant replied, heading out of her room and accompanying Piper downstairs. The eldest of the sisters wore a dark shade of a chocolate coloured leather pants, with a sand toned turtle neck and brown heeled boots, while her hair was held back by a deep brown hair glove.
"Actually, that's not true; Tara has a part time job at the fair that's in town for the week, she's a psychic," Piper explained,
"a psychic? I thought Tara didn't have any physical powers, she said she was just a wiccan practitioner," Phoebe stated,
"she is, but apparently she can read palms too!" Piper said, entering the kitchen to find Willow sitting alone at the table.
"Hey Will, Tara already gone to her new job?" Phoebe asked, as Piper refilled the redhead's cup with coffee,
"yeah, I feel kinda lonely without her," she said, her voice soft and saddened.
"Well you can come job hunting with me!" Phoebe claimed,
"sure, I've got nothing better to do," Willow said, her expression brightening up and a smile forming on her face, "then we can go to the fair and see Tara and get candyfloss!" she added, her smile growing.
"Candyfloss sounds great," Phoebe said,
"I wish I could spend the day at a fair with candyfloss but I can't, I gotta get to the club, you gonna be home for dinner?" Piper questioned, Willow and Phoebe exchanged a glance, knowing that they were both thinking the same thing; Piper's cooking? much better than candyfloss.
"Of course," the replied in unison,
"okay, it'll be ready by six," the brunette told them, grabbing her jacket and purse and walking through the foyer to the front door. Phoebe and Willow were about to begin their morning chat when they heard Piper scream as she was blasted over the dining table,
"demon!" they both said, running out to help their fellow charmed one. But, to their surprise, there was no demon in sight.
"Piper, what happened?" Phoebe asked,
"demon shimmered in and hit me with some kind of red laser beam," she replied,
"do you think he's still here?"
"uh huh," Willow nodded, spotting the demon standing opposite them. A beam like Piper had described shot from the demon's hand and darted straight towards Willow; who sent it back with her telekinesis and caused him to burst into flame.
"That's my demon for the day, now I really need to get to work," Piper said, picking up her purse off the floor and exiting the house,
"a demon showing up has put me off job hunting," Phoebe groaned, plopping down onto the sofa in the sitting room, "wanna go straight to the fair?" she grinned,
"I'm just gonna go check the book to find out what that demon was," Willow said, making her way towards to and up the stairs,
"everybody's a workaholic these days," Phoebe sighed, picking up Tara's green and silver, floral patterned, notebook to get to the Cosmopolitan magazine beneath it. Upon touching the notebook she was ripped from the real world and entered into the world of muddled time and psychic energy;
Tara was tied to a chair in a tall, purple, tent; presumably her fortune telling booth, she was gagged and blindfolded and crimson was trickling from a gash on her forehead. A woman was pacing in-front of her while tapping an athame against the palm of her hand. A gold metal bra studded with jewels in a vary of colours covered her chest, red silk was fastened around her waist; flowing down before splitting into different pieces and flapping against her bronze toned skin. Her jet black hair clung together in a ponytail and hung down to the bottom of her back. Eyes like chipped crystal shone in her face and deep red lips were pursed into a sour expression, while gold earrings dangled from her ears like chandeliers from a ceiling; matching bangles ran up her arms and a pendant of drooping rubies glistened around her neck. The woman's eyes suddenly morphed from glittering to serpent-like as they became a deep shade of yellow and her pupils enlarged,
"help!" Tara screeched, as the woman removed the blindfold and gag. Tara's innocent look met with the woman's cold, evil, one briefly, before the wicca screamed one last time and the athame in the Xena-look-a-like's hands swiped across her throat.
Phoebe gasped as she was released back into the real world,
"Willow!" she yelled,
"what?" the youngest charmed one asked, running straight down the stairs and into the room,
"it's Tara," she replied,
"is she okay?"
"I think we have some time,"
"time for what?"
"to find out what we're up against." Willow was slightly confused at Phoebe's simple explanation but followed her up to the attic anyway.
Moments later,
"Rahna; evil enchantress from Ancient Rome who swore to eliminate the good side of witchcraft," Phoebe read, her finger tracing along the old page of their special book as she spoke,
"does it say how she was planning to do that?" Willow asked,
"a spell which involves sacrificing a wicca," Phoebe replied, suddenly realising why Rahna was specifically going to kill Tara.
"Okay, we know why she's here; what she wants, but how? how is she here if she's from Ancient Rome?" the redhead questioned,
"she used a curse to bind Nacara's immortality to her," Phoebe informed her,
"Nacara?"
"the Guardian of Witchcraft."
"Oh,"
"we better get going, we can called Piper on the way to the fair," Phoebe stated, jotting down the vanquishing spell on a piece of lined paper and folding it into her back pocket,
"we have no way of getting there! neither of us have a car!" Willow said,
"no, but Prue's car is still in the driveway; we can take that," Phoebe replied. The mention of Prue created a weak atmosphere between the two, before they headed out of the attic and Phoebe grabbed Prue's car keys from the table by the door on their way.
Meanwhile, Piper glanced over at the band having their sound check, and then went back to setting up the bar ready for the night to come. Thoughts of Leo, her family and a possible future child carried Piper into her own world, before a sharp pain struck the pit of her stomach and caused her to stumble slightly, dragging her back to the harsh world of reality,
"Piper, you okay?" Dex, the manager, asked,
"yeah, I'm fine," she lied,
"well the phone's for you," he said, hinting towards the backroom. She nodded and walked through, picking up the detachable and finding Willow's voice waiting for her on the other end of the line,
"Piper, we need you to meet us at the fair, there's an evil witch about to attack Tara," she said,
"I'll be right there," the brunette said, ending the call and taking a moment to recover from her minute of pain, before grabbing her keys and leather jacket.
By the time they had gotten to the fair and found Tara's booth, it was dark and Willow and Phoebe had discovered that Rahna had yet to attack.
"Waiting for me?" an Italian accented voice asked, as the gold-clad witch entered,
"something like that," Phoebe said, levitating as high as the tent would allow her and aiming a kick at her. Rahna grabbed the floating witch's foot before it could reach her, and used it as leverage to throw her through the tent entry and render her unconscious on the dry dirt ground. Next, Willow attacked with a telekinetic blast, but Rahna also managed to escape this by deflecting this with a red hot aura surrounding her hand; forcing Willow to the floor and resulting in her head striking the corner of the pine table behind her. Without them to protect her, Tara was left to defend herself with the mere wiccan abilities she possessed,
"alone at last," Rahna said, grinning darkly as she lifted her gold handled silver blade and marched towards Willow's beloved. Tara attempted to conjure up a spell, but failed as Rahna closed in on her and created cloth bindings around her eyes, mouth and wrists, the immortal witch held her athame in the air and began to chant:
"Enemy, energy, call the power,
Release your essence,
I summon Hecate,
Except my wiccan sacrifice,
Bless me with your magic."
A breeze travelled through the tent, and just as it began to pick up into a strong wind it died down and disappeared,
"damnit," she cursed, her eyes flashing gold as she began to pace; tapping the athame against her hand. Suddenly, Rahna sensed power in the room and assumed her spell was taking affect, but her assumption proved wrong as she was blasted across the room and looked up to see Piper walking in.
"I can give as good as I get," Rahna hissed, shooting a ball of hot, scarlet, energy from her hand,
"I can freeze as good as you give," Piper said, stopping the sphere in it's tracks and blowing it up.
"Powerful little witch," Rahna growled, her eyes turning yellow with fury,
"this powerful little witch is about to get a whole lot more powerful," Piper stated, as Phoebe and Willow regained consciousness within seconds of each other and joined her side.
"Got a spell?" she asked, Phoebe replied but unfolding a piece of paper she took from her pocket and holding it so all three of them could see;
"Here we stand, the power of three,
Let go of your immortality,
Your power shall end in our sight,
One final look and die this night."
Rahna's eyes opened wide as she screamed out in horror and flames consumed her body; burning her to a sculpture of ash that collapsed to the floor,
"Tara, that god your okay," Willow said, as she untied her girlfriend and pressed a kiss to her head. Piper tried to hide her agony as another pain sparked inside of her,
"what's wrong?" Phoebe asked,
"nothing, just a little stomach cramp," the molecular based witch replied, giving a small fake smile.
The following morning, Willow was sitting on the attic floor with the Book of Shadows in-front of her,
"what you doing up here?" Tara asked, joining her on the floor,
"researching," the redhead replied,
"researching what?"
"me, well the charmed ones; the power of three, everything that's been and that's to come, I want to know what I've entered us into, what our lives are going to be from now on." Tara smiled and held her lover close, kissing her softly before letting her go and watching as she made notes from the book.
On the second floor of the house, Piper was experiencing her fifth stomach pain in the last nine hours and was struggling to make her way down the stairs. She let out a small shriek as she clutched her abdomen and tumbled down to the bottom step,
"Piper!" Phoebe cried, running straight down the stairs; nearly falling herself, and checking for a pulse in her sister.
"Is she okay?" Willow asked, following her down with Tara,
"I don't know, we need Leo," Phoebe stated,
"he said the Elders would be blocking his calls while he's in the meeting with them," Tara said,
"then we need to get her to a hospital."
To be continued…
Next chapter- A life is lost in the hospital, but who's? And what will follow the loss of another family member?
'Enough Is Enough' should be up soon.